Developing an energy-efficient process planning system for prismatic parts via STEP-NC

Reducing energy consumption for machining operations is a significant research in the manufacturing sector. However, energy-efficient machining oriented to process planning systems is still a challenge. This work uses data structures of Standard for the Exchange of Product model data-Numerical Control (STEP-NC) to develop an energy-efficient process planning system for prismatic parts. A framework of energy-efficient process planning system, consisting of human machine interface, data operation module, and core module, is proposed. The implementation of the system is given, where the core module comprising energy consumption model, ontology, and optimization process is illustrated in details. A test part with typical manufacturing features compliant with STEP-NC is utilized to verify the developed system. The result shows that the process planning system could generate energy-efficient machining scheme with STEP-NC Part21 file or G/M code, which is propitious to the requirement of low energy demand manufacturing.